sheila smith to you first, you know the country of japan. help us, this devastation happened in the northeastern part of the country around the city of sendai. give us a sense of what that area was like before disaster struck. >> sure, it was a lovely part of japan. it was not as densely populated as other sections down further south, tokyo region and further south. but nonetheless it was a place where many japanese traveled as tourists for business trips. sendai was to the a small town. it was a 15th largest city in japan so a medium size city by japanese standards. >> woodruff: two million. >> 2 million population, when are you looking at the mid have clipses a lot of what you are seeing are a number of coastal villages, fishing port, for example, that fires are at. but sendai itself is a very modern city and a large city. >> woodruff: and highly populated. >> highly populated area. >> woodruff: chris meinig, help us understand. the earthquake hit and then there was triggered this tsunami. help us understand what happened there. >> sure. t